I think as you start to truly enjoy the taste of food you tend to want more flavor, you want and think everyone should flavor all that they cook with at the very least salt and pepper. I have found my one true food obsession and it is with garlic. There are very few dinner items that I make that do not involve garlic in some form or another. I love chopping it, pressing it, smashing it and leaving it whole. Roasted garlic is just awe inspiring to me and so useful in many ways. So much so that a few years ago I planted 40 cloves, they were not huge bulbs come harvest time but they were oh so tasty and we had enough for many months. Towards the end they were drying out a little, so the next year I decided to peel each clove and freeze them; two and half hours of my life UGH! While this worked nicely they lasted close to a year, the only down side was they were only good for pressing. The flavor never really left them so that worked in my book. I decided the 3rd year I would plant 80 cloves and leave some whole, freeze the rest. I thought I had a great plan unfortunately due to the crazy New England winters I lost them all. Utter devastation in my house over the loss of garlic. This year I planted 80 cloves again alas only 40 survived. I will figure this out someday! Thankfully Garlic is readily available so I can and do always buy it from the market.

A friend mentioned she was reading my last post and makes garlic mashed potatoes she never thought of flavoring the water at the beginning with garlic, she said she was totally going to try it that way, I hope she likes it.

A shocking thing to me is I have come across a few recipes that do not have garlic in them, not sure why that is, maybe the person making the dish is not obsessed with garlic as we are. Maybe they do not think it is necessary, maybe they are allergic, is that even possible??? But being me I just have to deviate and add at least SOME garlic to almost everything.

I do find that when a recipe asks for 2-4 cloves I tend to add 4-8. I don’t think that is a bad thing, my son jokes that we are immune to garlic which is why I have to add more. I am totally OK with that! My daughter just reminded me of our running joke that no vampires will be coming to our house anytime soon!

Basil Pesto – SO YUMMY!

6 Ounces of washed and dried basil leaves, stems removed

4 Ounces of pine nuts

6-8 Cloves of Garlic

2 Ounces of grated parmesan cheese

Olive oil – Salt and Pepper

Combine first 3 ingredients in a food processor or blender, pulse to combine. Add olive oil until you get the consistency you like, finish by adding the parmesan cheese a little salt and pepper pulsing until combined. Enjoy with and/or on just about anything!

One–Pan Pasta – Great for week night meal; we have also made this on the grill’s side burner!

What busy week it has been. We have had a golf tournament, welcome home party and a college graduation party. Not a lot of time to grocery shop let alone do a lot of cooking. Pretty much quick meals each night. Even when we don’t have time to be adventurous we still want to eat something yummy. So busy weeks end up with something you can throw together fairly effortlessly. Steak, garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus is one of my fav’s.

With it raining every night for the last week, seems like forever I went for the quick sear in a skillet and finish them off in the oven method for the yummy Rib Eyes. Not my favorite way to cook them, I would much rather just season them (my go to steak seasoning is Adobo) and off to the grill. But by doing them this way I was able to use some leftover red wine that was sitting on the counter. One of my good friends favorite saying is “just because you open it, doesn’t mean you have to finish it” hence the leftover bottle of red wine. While the steaks are resting (very important and don’t skip) heat up the skillet and add the wine to deglaze the pan scraping up all the yumminess and letting it simmer down to more than half. I also usually add beef stock or a beef bouillon it makes a great au jus that adds even more flavor to the beef.

With no time to grocery shop this weekend, I decided this week we will be eating our way through the fridge and freezer. I actually like to do this every few months or so. It is a great way to clean out both and to try to come up with meals with what we have on hand. It also saves quite a bit of money when you had so many things happening over the weekend and are a little low on cash.

Taking a quick look around we will be eating chicken, Italian sausage, a pork loin and even some beef tenderloins at some point this week. I think I am pretty OK with this!

Bye for now; have a great short week – Happy 4th of July

Roasted Asparagus

Either cut off or snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Coat with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Place on a sheet tray with sides and cook on 350’ for about 15 minutes.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Wash and cut up your favorite potatoes, cover with cold water, add 2 to 4 minced garlic cloves to the pot, generously salt the water and bring to a low boil for about 10-15 minutes or until fork tender. Drain and put them back in the same pot. Add a heaping table spoon of sour cream, 4 tablespoons of butter and a little milk. Mash until they come out how you like them. I don’t mind them a little lumpy on occasion.

I love to cook, eat, and share what I make and I have recently started teaching cooking classes in my home.

My favorite part of my home is my kitchen island. So much great food and many wonderful conversations have been around the island that my husband built. I have always been a firm believer that making and eating meals together makes for closer relationships. Even when my children were younger and into all kinds of activities, we made a point to eat at least one meal together everyday. Now that they are older, 21 & 23, and currently still living at home, we have more meals together than apart. I love how they are now an instrumental part of the food planning and preparation.

My son has been the “picky” eater part of the equation, which at times has been very trying for me. So much so when he was around 8 and was pitching a fit about having to eat one of my standard favorites, spaghetti no less, I convinced him, kicking and screaming to make the gravy (sauce). I told him that squeezing the garlic press would make him feel better. That night all I can say is; it worked. He had 2 helpings of the food he hated. Nowadays he is still not a fan of the pasta spaghetti but loves all other kinds of pasta. He is currently testing my personal boundaries by requesting Lamb, Veal and Mushrooms which I did not grow up eating but I can’t be a self proclaimed foodie without at least testing my comfort zone.

My daughter while I knew she loved most foods, pretty much surprised me at how adventurous she had become. While away at college in her sophomore year she spent a semester abroad, lived in an apartment which did not have a meal plan. She had a crash course in picking out and cooking meals for herself. She was hooked and has been on her own foodie quest ever since. My husband and I went over to Paris on her spring break. I could not believe how much she had grown. Out to dinner one night she asked our waiter what was his favorite meal, that is what she ordered and loved it. I almost fell out of my chair, wonderful to see but I am not sure If I could have done that. I am learning from her as much as she has from me. I will admit I was not so thrilled when my double Political Science and German major proclaimed she wanted to move to the Caribbean and open a restaurant. She is currently off to live in Japan for a year to teach English as a second language. I cannot wait for her to come home and teach me how to make Japanese food.

My husband and I started our lives together with the knowledge of good tasting food and we could make some very good meals together, nothing too fancy or exciting but well made meals. We are now self proclaimed foodies and are on a quest to eat and share great food whether we are alone or with a group of family and friends. We love to try new recipes and look for new restaurants with good reputations of having well prepared delicious tasting food. Whether we are home or on vacation, which is mostly in the Caribbean, we seek out and crave amazing food. We are also now looking into pairing wine with our yummy food. While in Paris realizing they do not have our kind of beer nor cocktails, we needed to start to like wine. One of the highest things on my bucket list is to eat my way through Italy, I refuse to go until I can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. I think we are safe to go now!

My hope is to inspire you to have your own food adventures, it is never too late to try something new.